An Epic Journey

Yesterday we talked about how to get right side up with our finances. I laid out a simple strategy of Deciding to do away with debt, Starting to specifically set aside savings, and to Purposefully plan.
I have a few side notes that I want to leave with you – just a couple of tips.

1. When you begin to pay off credit cards or loans you will pay them off much faster if you begin with smaller ones and focus your excess income on paying just one credit card or loan off first. Jenni and I did this and as we would pay one off, we would transfer the money we were already used to paying on that credit card to the next – it was like a snowball effect.

2. Get rid of services you don’t need. Ask yourself tough questions. Do you need a home phone? If so, could you go a creative route like using a Magic Jack – $40 one time fee and then $20/YEAR for phone service.

Do you need cable? Jenni and I use an antenna on our house, and receive 20 channels in HD (most people don’t realize that HD is being sent over antenna’s for free) and we save bundles every month. Most TV’s also allow you to hook your computer up to them now and most TV networks are putting their shows online (www.Fancast.com is a great place to catch up on your shows for free, with less commercials and when YOU want to watch them)!

3. Plan ahead for meals. One thing Jenni and I are doing to try and cut back on how much we eat out is to plan out a monthly calendar. This helps us curb how much we spend eating out monthly and also helps cut down the grocery bill by not wasting food (if we are buying a head of lettuce for tacos one night we might do a salad the next).

4.  Be sure to check out Epic Churches Budget resource by visiting epic4life.com/budget.  This will be very helpful to you as you try to plan!

these are simple ideas that could help you cut several hundred dollars out of your monthly expenses right away! You can do it, it just takes some discipline! Can’t wait to hear the creative ways you are finding to cut costs, save money, pay off debt and use your money to fund the Kingdom of God!